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5 exhibitions and museums to visit in Cēsis Municipality

29.07.2022
There is no shortage of exhibition rooms and museums in Cēsis Municipality! You should definitely visit at least one of them. We have provided a small summary below!

The Cēsis History and Art Museum in the New Castle of Cēsis will make you feel the mood of the Middle Ages. The museum is located in the very centre of the Cēsis Old Town, in the New Castle of Cēsis, a remarkable national architectural heritage site dating back to the 18–19th century. The museum was founded in 1925 and with more than 155,000 items in its collection, it is one of the largest municipal museums in the country. Throughout almost 100 years of its existence, the Cēsis Museum has been not only an important collection of important historic objects related of the town, its municipality, and the overall region, but also an icon of Cēsis and a hub for today’s cultural life in the town.

You should visit the Global Centre for Latvian Art in Cēsis, where you can discover art created by Latvian artists who went into exile during the Second World War, as well as works by a new generation of artists living abroad. Its guests can look at the unique art exhibitions in the centre’s two exhibition rooms. The Global Centre for Latvian Art collects and exhibits works of art created by Latvians in exile abroad. The exhibitions are regularly updated, and every six months one can discover more and more new artists and works of art, with oil and watercolour paintings, sculptures, installations, etc.

Be sure to visit the Āraiši lake dwelling Archaeological Park. Āraiši lake dwelling Archaeological Park is a place where you can discover history, from the Stone Age to the end of the Middle Ages. The most unusual object in it is the Āraiši lake dwelling, a fortified place of residence of Iron Age Latgalians located on an island in the lake. At the Āraiši Archaeological Park you can find out how ancient inhabitants of the region lived and dressed, what they ate, why the lake dwelling sank, and how it was resurrected. The tours and programs offered by the Archaeological Park invite you to get acquainted with the daily lives and celebrations of the people who lived in different centuries.

The Piebalga Porcelain Factory, where you can also apply for one of the porcelain painting master classes, will certainly deliver an interesting experience. The Piebalga Porcelain Factory, created by the artist Jānis Ronis, is the only manufacturer of porcelain in Latvia. Porcelain production began in Piebalga in 2007, and now ‘white gold’ is becoming one of Piebalga’s symbols. The small factory in the building of a former Vecpiebalga dairy producer has grown into a successful company under the brand Piebalgas Porcelāna Fabrika, creating interest on Latvian and foreign markets with its unusual and unique art objects. Diligent work results in delicate hand-made kitchenware, souvenirs, and special gifts. You can also visit the factory, learn the secrets of making the fragile porcelain and try painting it!

While in Amata, go to Amata Primary School, where you should visit the Melānija Vanaga Museum. The museum displays a rich archive of materials that the writer collected about her home region, about the fate of her extended family and its members. Here you can also see the family tree created by Melānija Vanaga, a 9-meter-long genealogy scroll, in which she studied the roots of her family down 14 generations to the year 1600. An important place in the museum is dedicated to the story of life in Siberia, with the struggle for survival and the Latvian fierce spirit and flair for life.

 

 



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